That's not the official title of the leadership article I wrote for Catalyst but it should be because that's pretty much what the piece is about. (I mentioned this on Twitter last night but not everyone follows me on Twitter, so I thought I would mention it here too.)
The article is about the four leadership lessons Stuff Christians Like taught me:
1. Leadership involves a lot of empty rooms.
2. It's easy to get addicted to the measurement of your own awesomeness.
3. It only takes one follower to make you feel like you should fake it.
4. It is tempting to exaggerate your own cool.
If you'd like, you can check out the whole article right here.
Thanks. I am Twitter-impaired. Soon I can claim this as a Gov. supported disability. For now, I am simply owning my "un-coolness".
ReplyDeletehope you don't mind that i try to remember "the empty room" whenever i start "getting too big for my britches", as my grandma used to say...
ReplyDeleteGreat Article Jon!
ReplyDelete"The weird thing about being a leader is that you don’t magically lose your insecurities."
^So True. Even with tons of encouragement, I find that I get discouraged way too easily. I am often times overly critical of myself in an amplified attempt at being humble.
Thanks for putting things into perspective.
There will be people who read the article and wonder all day, "Wow. He only has one eyebrow. Wonder what happened to the other? I'll bet it got burned off saving a kitten from a towering inferno. What a guy."
ReplyDeleteYou wrote:
ReplyDelete3. It only takes one follower to make you feel like you should fake it.
That is a powerful and desperately true sentence. Thanks for putting it in such sharp relief.
When I was working on my MBA (emphasis on Marketing) I learned a very simple truth about leadership and leading. Leaders lead. Period. Every class was full of students who *said* they wanted to be the team lead, but most of them never led. Leading makes you a leader. Not the title.
ReplyDeleteeach of those sentences rings true...a warning well headed.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to the feeling that sometimes you want to "fake it" when you having people reading your blog. The temptation to say things that sound good but aren't what you are really thinking, feeling or dealing with is amazing. I started my blog telling readers prmoising that I would be totally transparent and honest. I think I've managed to do that as some of my posts are obviously more from my fallen human n ature than others. It's hard to allow people to see your not-so-nice sides because we all fear being judged solely on our mistakes. Good article, Jon.
ReplyDelete"It only takes one follower to make you feel like you should fake it."
ReplyDeleteAnd that one follower is Stacy from Louisville.
Great article Jon! Very true and well played! Eager to read the book!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of my favorite new devotional... ;)
ReplyDeletehttp://jesusneedsnewpr.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-want-this-devotional.html
You know Donald Miller? Wow I am impressed.
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite post or article you have written. Very well done and great reminder.
The article= SO TRUE! And yes, once you have 1 follower, you want to fake it. Ah... it's like you were reading my mind.
ReplyDelete"...unexpectedly turned into a book with Zondervan..."
ReplyDeleteThere was something ironic about reading that sentence in the same article as points 3 and 4 of the article. The article was great by the way - but that sliver of irony distracted me from the main points of the article & led me to the following - which comes half seriously and half tongue in cheek.
Jon "in the spirit of Christian love I believe God would have me say to you" (that's Christianese for 'get ready to duck, there's a spiritual stiff arm coming your way) "come on mate, be honest, you chased Zondervan like a shameless hussy to get that book deal."
I know you were suprised they said yes, so the statement is true, but a Catalyst reader who hasn't read all your reflections on the book stuff on the blog might interpret that sentence as; 'one day out of the blue someone at Zondervan called me up and said; 'hey Jon, we've just stumbled across your blog and think it would make a great book.'
To be honest, the reason this struck me is that one of the things I appreciate about you is your humility and authenticity, and as I indicated, it seemed an ironic counterpoint to some of the great thoughts the article expressed.
Bruce, who's too lazy, and too much of a techno snob to get any kind of account to create a user id, but doesn't want to be one of those anonymous hit and run merchants.
Anon - But really Bruce-
ReplyDeleteGreat question about that sentence, "...unexpectedly turned into a book with Zondervan...".
I probably did a poor job explaining the point I was trying to make. By "unexpectedly" I meant that when I started writing Stuff Christians Like I had around 36 different web addresses registered and was constantly coming up with really lousy ideas, writing about them for a week and then getting bored of them. I thought the same thing was going to happen with Stuff Christians Like. I thought it would be one more silly thing I wrote about (wasn't even an original idea) and then it would disappear. So when people started reading it, I was caught off guard. After having a blog that about 100 people read for a year to have one that more than 100 people read was a surprise to me. You are dead on in your idea that Zondervan didn't call me up one day, while I was out in a field throwing a baseball with my daughter and unexpectedly ask if I wanted to write a book. I had a literary agent. I had worked hard to write the site every day for six months at that point. But if you asked me if I ever would have expected an idea like Stuff Christians Like to get published I would have told you that honestly I did not expect it.
Thanks for reading the article and taking the time to ask a really good question
Jon
I've read your posts for awhile, but haven't left a comment before now. I'm a youth pastor in Dover, OH at NewPointe Community Church. (You can probably guess who we model after...)
ReplyDeleteI'm going though a new phase in leadership at my job right now. Your blog reminded me what is important - that God defines who we are and where we'll succeed. Too often I focus on numbers, strategy, or even being "cool." More and more I believe I should just let God work through me, but more importantly IN me.
Thanks for what you're doing.
Do you do Facebook? Twitter?
Matt
Jon,
ReplyDeleteAppreciate your response to my thoughts. Probably unnecessary, but since my ego was big enough for me to come back to see if you did, thanks for giving it strokes - don't make a habit of it - it's not good for me!
Anonymous Bruce
that insecure thing is so true...
ReplyDelete